Martyrdom of St. Julitta
by MAIR von Landshut, Tempera on wood, 120 x 107 cm
Julitta and her three-year-old son Cyricus had fled to Tarsus and were identified as Christians. Julitta was tortured and Cyricus, being held by the governor of Tarsus, scratched the governor’s face and was killed by being thrown down by some stairs. Julitta did not weep but celebrated the fact that her son had earned the crown of martyrdom. In anger, the governor then decreed that Julitta’s sides should be ripped apart with hooks, and then she was beheaded in AD 304.
The panel showing the flaying of Julitta belonged to a winged altarpiece, it is a detail of the moving wing.